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Monday, March 28, 2016

What if?

Let's talk about inspiration for
a second. We all need it. Yet, we all get it from different places. And
sometimes we never know where or when it might strike. But until the MG
Minders decided to tackle this topic over the next few weeks, I never
really thought about where my inspiration came from.

And
as much as I'd love to say Buzz speaks the truth, unfortunately that's
not always the case. Okay, sure there's tons and tons of ideas, in fact I
have over 150 email drafts in my inbox where I store my spur of the
moment thoughts. However, most of those ideas are just a single thought,
they don't have characters, plot, or depth to them. They aren't unique,
and they don't carry much weight.

Every once in a while an
idea will strike and take hold, or in some cases if I'm very lucky,
it'll take over. We all love when the words start pouring out of us, but
I'm getting ahead of myself. How do we actually get to the point where
the ideas just come. Where does that spark of inspiration come from?

The
short unhelpful answer is EVERYWHERE. But it goes much deeper than
that. Sometimes, I honestly don't know. Sometimes there's a word or a
phrase that some says or I something I read online that will set me off,
other times it's an article or something on TV or in a movie. Most
frequently though, the inspiration comes from within me. It's engrained
in my very nature.

Confused
yet? I know, it surprised me a bit too. But when I really sat back to
think about it, every manuscript I write has a large piece of me in it. I
often don't even realize it's happening. Let me explain.

In
addition to writing in my free time, I'm also an aerospace engineer. It's
not only something that pays the bills, but it's something I really
enjoy. I love science and math. I also love science fiction and
fantasy. And those ideals are so closely tied together. In my day job,
I'm constantly surrounded by technology and research. The wheels in my
brain are always spinning within the real world, and the world just out
of reach. I'm always asking myself questions about what is, what could
be, and what seems impossible. But the one question I find myself asking
most frequently when it comes to my writing is 'What If'.

Even when I feel completely lost, that one question has become the source of a majority of my
inspiration. It starts with that spark that I mentioned earlier, someone
says something, that article, that TV show, etc. but it's that 'What
if' question that keeps me moving forward. My thoughts and ideals, the
things I dream could be real one day, and the things that are just out
of reach that terrify me. Those are the inspirations behind my work.

How
far can I push that idea? What would that world look like? And how
would a character react and survive in that situation? Those are the
ideas and thoughts that help drive my stories.

I feel like I come upon something inspiring almost every day - either in the paper, on the street, in my reading, in my thoughts, etc. So when people ask if I ever suffer from writers' block, I always answer that it's just the opposite -too many ideas, too little time to turn them into something.